Harjit S. Sajjan

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, the fixed-wing SAR program already had considerable delays in the past. Search and rescue is a critical component of the Canadian Armed Forces that provides that service, and we need to make sure our troops have the right aircraft for it.

As I said, it already had considerable delays, and there was no procurement freeze put on this. Canadians do not care what aircraft the Coast Guard or the military provides. We provide an essential service and we need to make sure our men and women have the capability for this.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, as I stated before, I have no intention of cutting the personnel levels. We are conducting that defence review, and in terms of the schedule of procurement, this is a schedule that I inherited. In terms of re-profiling the money, all I have done is taken the schedule that existed within the department and I am making sure that this money is protected for the years that we need to spend it. If I can move those projects in a much quicker fashion, then we will request to re-profile it back so we can have the purchase of the project and bring in the capability even sooner.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, what I was expressing, in terms of the procurement schedule, is that if we have an opportunity for certain procurement projects to move faster and we are able to purchase sooner, we will re-profile the money back so we can have the capability sooner. That is a good news story. We should be focused on that, rather than waiting until later years from what I inherited in terms of the procurement schedule.

I want to make sure that we have capabilities as quickly as possible, and we are working diligently to make that happen.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, aside from the frigate modernization, I do not consider the interim AOR as a good news story. We have a capability gap, where we are renting resupply from other nations right now. That is a capability gap. Nonetheless, we are committed to the national shipbuilding strategy and we are moving forward with that, the interim AOR, and the joint supply ships.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, we are not making any cuts to procurement. In fact, the procurement schedule that we have was inherited from the previous government, which we are moving along with. What we did was ensure we protected the money for these procurements. However, we are working diligently trying to move projects faster. If we are successful we will be able to re-profile that money back for procurement.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, with the exact question and the number, I cannot have an answer for the member. However, there are significant differences as the budget does change. I can assure the member that the direction I have given the department is that there will be no cuts. We have kept the planned increases for the military, and we are making sure our men and women have the money to conduct operations.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, our government has not made cuts. As I stated, the money is re-profiled for the future. In fact, we have actually increased our budget. We kept the planned increases of 2%, which is $361 million that goes to operations and allows our men and women to operate. In addition, we are putting in another $200 million for infrastructure. Plus, the Operation Impact mission is $360 million. We are investing into the operations of the Canadian Armed Forces.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, as I stated, we are committed to replacing the CF-18s. In terms of the F-35, I encourage the member to read a lot of the independent reports that are coming out, from the U.S. government as well, with some of the challenges. These are some of the things we are taking into consideration.

However, at the end of the day, we need to make sure we fill this capability gap, and we will get a fighter that is going to meet the needs and is going to extend much into the future.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, not only should we be picking an aircraft that is going to take us into the future, but we need to be investing potentially into our industry, looking at one to two steps beyond, into future capabilities.

I am happy to discuss many other aspects of the various programs, but we need to look even further in making sure of there is adaptability in some of our procurement.

[Business of Supply, May 16th, 2016]

Mr. Chair, yes, I stand corrected on the particular government. However, I can assure the member that right now we need to replace the current CF-18s, and we need to do it quickly to make sure the men and women in the air force have the aircraft they need to carry out all their missions.